If you want to easily share contact information with someone, Apple’s NameDrop is an efficient tool. With the recent launch of iOS 17, however, some consumers worry that accessing the new tool boasts a steep learning curve. That’s not true at all, as it’s quite simple to get started with NameDrop. Here’s our guide on how to share contact information like a true boss.

What is NameDrop?

NameDrop is a feature that comes with iOS 17. It allows you to instantaneously send contact information to other people just by placing your iPhone near to their iPhone. This is similar to the pre-existing Tap to Share toolset, but with a specialized emphasis on contact information. There have been plenty of third-party apps that do this sort of thing, but this is Apple’s first-party solution.

How to use NameDrop to share contact information

NameDrop is extremely simple. Just hold your iPhone near the top of someone else’s iPhone. That’s it. You’ll see a faint glow emerge from the top of both devices to indicate a successful connection and NameDrop will appear on both screens. 

Apple

Once connected, you’ll be able to adjust exactly what contact information gets shared between the two devices. You can receive the other person’s information, send your information or do both at once. If you want to cancel, just move the phone away before the system finishes its dark magic.

This only works for new contacts, though, and cannot be used to update pre-existing contact information. You can get around this limitation by deleting the contact before going in for the NameDrop.

How to use contacts on iPhone to share information

NameDrop requires that both phones are updated to iOS 17, and that’s not always a realistic possibility. You have another choice for sending out contact information. Just head into the Contacts app and select Share Contact. Select the specific data you want to share and tap Done. Finally, select the delivery method. You can choose between Messages, Mail and several other options. This isn’t as easy as moving one phone close to another phone, but it should still take just a few seconds.

Ubisoft just confirmed that Tom Clancy’s The Division 3 is headed toward active development. We have a long time to wait before we get our hands on the franchise sequel, despite it being over four years since The Division 2 graced consoles and PCs back in 2019. The company also named Julian Gerighty as Executive Director for the entire The Division brand.

If that name sounds familiar it’s because Gerighty is often credited as being the modern architect of the franchise after coming aboard in 2014 as Associate Creative Director ahead of the original game’s launch. He moved up to Creative Director just in time for The Division 2 and its DLC releases.

So just how long do we have to wait? Settle in folks and grab your hibernation pajamas, as it’s gonna be awhile. Gerighty is currently the Creative Director for a little open-world game called Star Wars Outlaws. He won’t transition to The Division 3 until that game has shipped. Ubisoft says Gerighty’s first task will be to assemble the development team, so that hasn’t happened yet. Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t release until sometime next year so, well, you do the development math.

Despite the forthcoming sequel, Ubisoft says The Division 2 will still be supported, though the company didn’t detail future plans for DLC content. Concrete information regarding The Division 3 is basically non-existent, but Gerighty did say that the development process will be “about refinement, it's about pushing the quality bar consistently forward.”

Outside of that, Gerighty will use his Executive Director role to solidify “brand identity.” That means he’ll be actively involved with spin-off titles, mobile releases and the like. There are a “plethora” of upcoming projects set in the franchise’s universe, like the mobile game The Division Resurgence and the spin-off shooter The Division Heartland.

Google has been trying to publicly pressure Apple into adopting the GSMA’s RCS (Rich Communications Service) messaging protocol for a long time now, with nothing to show for it. As a matter of fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed to completely dismiss the idea when he answered a question on the subject by saying that consumers should buy their moms an iPhone. Google and its Android platform aren’t giving up that easily and they’ve just released a snarky ad to continue criticizing Apple's preferred messaging platform. 

The ad’s called “iPager” and mimics Apple’s marketing language to reveal a retro-styled beeper, indicating that Apple’s behind the curve with its chosen messaging platform. The spot states that the iPager uses “outdated messaging tech” to “text with Android,” citing many of the perceived disadvantages of sticking with SMS technology when communicating with Android phones. Google didn’t invent this comparison whole-cloth, as the 30-year-old SMS tech actually dates back to old-school pagers.

Apple’s continued use of SMS messaging does hobble Android integration in a few ways, but the reverse is also true. Most famously, there’s the dreaded green bubble when texting an Android user from an iPhone. There are some feature-breaking bugs inherent to group chats between iOS and Android users and images sent from Android phones to iPhones tend to be rather pixelated. This is yet another side effect of those interoperability issues.

One-on-one RCS messages have been end-to-end encrypted since 2021, with group chats following suit just last month. iMessage texts have long been encrypted too, but only from iPhone to iPhone. Google’s latest ad shines an (admittedly slanted) light on the vulnerability consumers face when texting across operating systems, as those SMS texts aren't encrypted. Additionally, RCS text messages lose encryption when making the leap to iOS devices. It's anyone's guess why Apple should make this change and not Google, despite RCS being a more globally adopted standard.

This ad's unlikely to convince Apple to change anything, as it's only the latest salvo in Google’s snark campaign. Back in 2022, the company spoofed Drake to pile on Apple and there have been plenty of other minor jabs at Cupertino’s expense at events like I/O 2022 and on social media. We all know Apple is notoriously stubborn when it comes to adopting non-proprietary technology, especially if it views the change as unnecessary. No matter who's to blame, these interoperability issues are annoying for consumers and bad for data privacy. Maybe an antitrust case will get this sorted one day.

This year’s Razercon event held a couple of surprises for those who love the computer accessory company and luxury lifestyle brands. Razer has partnered up with Lamborghini to create a beefed up Blade 16 laptop that draws plenty of aesthetic inspiration from the sports car maker. It boasts a customized chassis with orange highlights that’s “infused with the spirit of Lamborghini.” The price tag is also infused with the spirit of Lamborghini, as this thing costs $5,000.

It looks pretty cool, but the actual components also got some Lambo love. The CNC-milled chassis is made from a single block of aluminum, adding durability, with a finish inspired by Lamborghini’s signature orange and matte black. The design on the lid echoes the headlights of the recently-announced Lamborghini Revuelto hybrid vehicle. So now you can race down the information superhighway in your Lambo computer as you race down the actual highway in your Lambo car. It’s an ouroboros of unnecessary speed.

The specs here are on-point, as there are some significant improvements over the base-level Blade 16 laptop. This is a highly-souped up edition, with a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 HX processor that boasts 24 cores and 32 threads. It also features a GeForce 4090 GPU, a 4TB SSD, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a dual-mode mini-LED 4K 16” display. This thing is a beast, but remember that $5K price tag. Despite the cost, the Razer Blade 16 x Automobili Lamborghini Edition could become a collector’s item some day, as the company is only making 150 units.

Razer

Razer has also teamed up with fashion icons Dolce & Gabbana to create a gold-emblazoned edition of its popular Barracuda wireless headphones. The fashion brand’s signature design has even been applied to a Razer Enki gaming chair and a bunch of clothing items to celebrate the partnership, like hoodies and t-shirts. Let’s hear it for corporate synergy!

Microsoft is releasing a big Windows 11 update next week, on September 26. The catchily-named 23H2 is packed with some real game changing features, along with a whole bunch of quality of life improvements. The update arrives just in time for the launch of the just-announced Surface Laptop Go 3 and the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

The big news here is the inclusion of the new AI-powered Windows Copilot feature. This toolset already exists as part of the Edge browser, but now it’ll be natively implemented in Windows, which allows for some nifty use cases. This native implementation means that Copilot is available in nearly every aspect of the operating system, from Powerpoint to Teams and beyond.

You’ll be able to use Copilot, for instance, to craft text messages using calendar data, explore navigation options in Outlook, generate Spotify playlists and more. This is generative AI so Copilot will also shop for items based solely on a photo, remove photo backgrounds and access the Bing Image Creator, which will soon be based on the vastly-improved Dall-E 3. Bing Chat is also now a native feature that exists in the sidebar.

AI isn’t the only game in town, as this is also a traditional OS update with the usual quality of life improvements. There’s finally native support for RAR and 7-zip file formats, so you can get rid of those third-party archiving apps. The File Explorer has been completely redesigned to increase efficiency, with large file thumbnails and a carousel interface, and the Paint app underwent a similar transformation, with a new dark mode and forthcoming transparency layers. There’s a redesigned volume mixer and updated RGB lighting controls called Dynamic Lighting. The latter toolset uses the open HID LampArray standard and many of the big names in gaming PCs and accessories have vowed to support this effort, such as Acer, Asus, HP, Razer and Logitech, among others.

Microsoft

Some current Windows 11 features have received minor updates here. The passkey experience has been optimized and moving your data to a new PC has been streamlined, thanks to an official Windows Backup software suite. Additionally, voice controls have been expanded and the photos app boasts some new editing options.

Finally, there’s the just-announced Ink Anywhere feature. This intriguing toolset is exclusively for stylus users interacting with a touchscreen PC or hybrid device. Ink Anywhere lets you draw on the screen in any text box anywhere within the operating system. The OS converts the handwriting to text and uses it in a number of innovative ways. This is useful for instantaneously uploading notes, but the system also uses AI to automatically answer queries, with Microsoft showing off the tool being used to complete a handwritten math problem.

Amazon has used today’s hardware event to go all-in on Alexa’s new LLM-infused capabilities, touting how easy it’ll soon be to have a natural sounding conversation with the bot. This also extends to kids, as the company just announced Explore With Alexa. This is a pared-down and kid-friendly version of the updated chatbot that specializes in topics like animals and nature. It’ll even play trivia games with your tykes and disperse daily fun facts.

Of course, this is for kids, so the tech has been developed with guard rails to protect them from the more sinister parts of the Internet. Amazon says Explore With Alexa will launch at some point before the holidays and will eventually extend beyond the pre-approved topics of animal and nature.

To accompany this new Alexa technology, there are some forthcoming kid-friendly devices. The Echo Pop Kids is a smart speaker designed for the younger members of your family. It ships in two SKUs that fall along typically accepted notions of gender. There’s an Avengers one and a Disney princess one. The Avengers one specializes in conversational tidbits about Earth’s mightiest heroes and the Disney princess model specializes in Mulan, Cinderella and the like. The Echo Pop Kids releases next month for $50 and includes six free months of Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service. Preorders start today.

Amazon

There’s also a pair of forthcoming tablets. The new Fire Kids tablet is aimed at younger children and the Fire Kids Pro is being marketed to older kids. These are 10-inch tablets that are 25-percent faster than the previous generation, with 1080p FHD screens, 3GB of RAM and access to specialized kid-centric apps. Each tablet costs $190 and ships with a year of Amazon’s Kids+ subscription service. You also get a two-year warranty out of the box that covers the kind of accidental mishaps that parents deal with every single day. Preorders start today and shipments begin next month.

Both tablets boast access to the company’s new Play Together feature that gives kids access to online multiplayer titles, like checkers, and an app called Music Maker. This experience lets children become “composers, blending instruments and other sound effects together, to create a unique composition with the help of AI, all through touch.”

Follow all of the news live from Amazon’s 2023 Devices event right here.

DIY repair gurus iFixit just issued a hearty rebuke at Apple, dinging the company’s self-proclaimed commitment to the right-to-repair movement. Additionally, the organization has retroactively lowered the repairability score for the iPhone 14, after originally being quite impressed by the phone’s easily-accessible hardware components.

The iPhone 14’s score shot down from a respectable 7 out of 10 to a “do-not-recommend” 4 out of 10. In other words, iFixit says the phone’s no longer a viable option for DIYers, even with Apple selling replacement parts via the company’s Self Service Repair program. This is because self-repair is more than just parts. There’s software involved and iFixit says Apple’s code purposefully limits repair options for most tasks.

The company derides Apple for creating a “labyrinthine maze of obstacles” for both consumers and third-party repair technicians. It all boils down to software that requires and checks for parts bought directly from Apple. Otherwise, you’ll lose functionality and receive endless warnings during use, as the system won’t successfully pair aftermarket parts.

The repair also must be validated by a proprietary chat system that requires personal information from the customer. Third-party technicians haven’t relished the prospect of handing out their customers’ private information just to replace a battery. Additionally, consumers and technicians alike typically rely on used or third-party parts, and Apple’s system dissuades both options in favor of purchasing pricey branded components.

A blog post on the matter by iFixit stated that it’s heard from several repair pros who have excited the business entirely rather than deal with Apple’s constant hurdles. The company also noted that community pushback began almost immediately after the iPhone 14 received its original repairability score.

iFixit still lauds Apple for making an “improvement over the status quo” by selling replacement parts, but says that the hoops a consumer or technician must jump through to replace a part makes the iPhone 14 “literally not repairable.” The site hasn’t issued a repairability score for any of the just-announced iPhone 15 models, but they should start coming in the next couple of weeks.

Fitbit’s redesign is finally here. Google just announced that the comprehensive refresh starts rolling out today after existing as a beta build since August. The update simplifies the experience by splitting everything up into three tabs. There’s the Today tab, the Coach tab and the You tab, with each offering unique metrics and access to activities.

The Today tab boasts a fully customizable set of daily stats and metrics for easy perusal. Though called “Today,” it also provides access to health trends over the past month or year. The Coach tab is all about motivation, with curated lists of mindfulness sessions, workouts and more. The You tab is where you access achievement badges and related progress metrics. Google says that all of this information is kept private and won’t be leveraged for ads data.

The refresh doesn’t change what’s free and what’s only available to paying subscribers, so your basic fitness flow will remain the same, but the app’s visual language is markedly different, and there are some new features. Google encourages Fitbit users to use the new app to track physical activity with or without a dedicated device, as the update improves integration with smartphone sensors for more accurate step counts. The company also touts new privacy controls and increased customization options within the Today tab.

The update begins a global launch today for both iOS and Android platforms. This is a major release, however, so it could take a few days before the redesigned app hits your inbox. The redesign couldn’t arrive at a better time, as Fitbit sunsetted a number of features earlier this year, including open groups, adventures and challenges. While these features haven’t exactly returned with this refresh, the Coach tab will feature daily challenges and scenarios similar to what was previously available, and the You tab provides access to achievement badges.

TikTok is rolling out a toolset that lets users label posts that have been created or enhanced by artificial intelligence. This move comes after the social media giant added a number of filters for video uploads that made heavy use of AI, and an image generator to help create unique backgrounds. The filters are being renamed to make it clearer which ones rely on generative AI to further assist with labeling. Moving forward, these filters will have “AI” in the name somewhere.

The new labels aren’t exclusive to TikTok-approved filters. You can slap the label on any content that’s been completely generated or significantly edited by AI, no matter where the content has been sourced from. Disney+ could have used these tools back when Secret Invasion premiered.

TikTok’s new labeling tools aren’t exactly optional. A recent company policy clearly states that any AI-generated content that contains “realistic images, audio or video” must be labeled as such to “help viewers contextualize” the situation and “prevent the potential spread of misleading content.” However, you can use other disclosures, like stickers or captions, to get the point across without violating any community guidelines.

When you place the onus on consumers to label their content, mistakes are gonna happen. To that end, TikTok’s developing its own algorithm that will label AI-generated posts automatically, though it hasn’t announced when these in-house tools will launch. All of the aforementioned tools were developed in tandem with the company’s safety advisory councils, with assistance from industry and scholastic experts.

Additionally, the platform has committed itself to abiding by the Partnership on AI’s Responsible Practices for Synthetic Media, a list of recommendations for increased transparency involving artificial intelligence. TikTok will also partner with the nonprofit Digital Moment to host roundtables to discuss the advancement of AI with “young community members.”

Microsoft is holding a 'special event' at 10 AM ET on Thursday, September 21. Details are scant but the timing certainly indicates a fall hardware event, likely prioritizing a new line of Surface products. There isn't a livestream but you can watch the whole thing at 1 PM ET via Microsoft. There should also be a stream on the official Microsoft Surface YouTube channel after the fact. If you don't want to wait three hours for some hot Microsoft news, check our liveblog that will run alongside the actual morning event. 

The company held its annual hardware event in October last year, but typically sticks to late September for these kinds of things. Microsoft hasn’t released any official confirmation as to what will be unveiled, but rumors indicate a refresh to the popular Surface Laptop Studio hybrid device, giving it a much-needed performance boost, and the follow-up to the Surface Laptop Go 2. The current model is fairly underpowered, with an aging 11th Gen Intel chipset, so this would be welcome news.

Of course, there’s likely to be a surprise or two, given this is Microsoft’s big annual event. Will we get a refresh to the Surface Pro 9 or the Surface Laptop 5? Watch to find out. The desktop Surface Studio 2+ is getting long in the tooth and could use some hardware-based TLC. There have also been some rumors indicating that the company’s prepping a follow-up to the Surface Duo dual-screen smartphone, though it's unlikely to get unveiled tomorrow. 

This is also the year 2023 on a planet called Earth, so expect some AI news. To that end, Surface product lead and Windows 11 guru Panos Panay just announced his exit from the company after nearly 20 years, who championed the use of AI in the operating system.

Last year, we got the aforementioned Surface Studio 2+ all-in-one desktop computer, the Surface Laptop 5, the Surface Pro 9 and plenty of software announcements. There was also some AI stuffed into Microsoft Teams.